Mean Men

By Miss Kubelik

The GOP's current embrace of Vlad the Invader and Russia isn't the only reason Ronald Reagan is spinning in his grave. Ronnie surely must be aghast at how mean Republicans have become.

Reagan was the ultimate jovial Republican whom Americans allowed to do tremendous damage to the country simply because he was sunny and chortling and nice. George W. Bush followed in his footsteps — remember the "Gee, I'd like to have a beer with this guy" meme? Back then, Republicans understood that they could get away with stuff as long as they seemed like the guy next door. And wow, it was a lot.

Meanwhile, mildly chilly policy wonks, like Michael Dukakis and Al Gore, and remote intellectuals who "looked French," like John Kerry, were rejected at the polls.

Well, come 2016, the nice Republican became a thing of the past. Benedict Donald gave every miscreant in America permission to be his own worst self, and the current crop of post-Trump Republicans isn't much better. In fact, they're worse. Ron DeSantis, beating up on a beloved cartoon mouse, is mean. Ted Cruz is mean. Josh Hawley is mean. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Madison Cawthorn, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar and all the rest of them are unpleasant, abrasive, petty — and mean.

We can only hope that all this will translate to defeat in 2022 and 2024. We'll see. In the meantime, we cats HISS.